The Copa America 2024 is underway and supposed “Favourites” Brazil are all set to start their campaign against Costa Rica tomorrow at 6.30 am IST. For a team like Brazil, there are always high expectations. Every tournament the Selecao is a part of, they are expected to bring home the trophy. Something that hasn’t happened in recent years.
Brazil has only won a single Copa America tournament since 2007. That triumph came in the 2019 edition of the South American championship. And that is the only international trophy in Brazil’s cabinet in the past 17 years. Meanwhile, their arch-rivals, La Albiceleste cannot seem to stop winning. Since last defeating Argentina on July 3, 2019, Messi’s men have gone on to win the Copa America, at the Maracana against Brazil, the Finallisima at Wembley, and the World Cup in Qatar. On top of that, Argentina have only lost 2 matches in the duration of these 4-5 years.
Meanwhile, Brazil hasn’t been close to being that good. Just in their last 13 matches since their exit from the 2022 World Cup, Brazil have last 5 matches and drawn 3, winning a measly total of just 5. This might be because most of the time they don’t play their full-strength 11, but that’s no excuse for a star-studded squad like Brazil. In my eyes, Brazil has gone from being one of the favourites at the 2022 WC to not even being an outright favourite to win the Copa America. And a big reason for that is the way they are seeded.
If Brazil makes it out of their group on top, which everyone expects them to, they’ll face the Runner-up in Group C in the Quarterfinals. Which will most likely be the United States. The reason is that the other strong team in Group C is Uruguay, who are just too strong and will likely top their group, but we’ll come back to that later. While Brazil drew against the USA not a long time ago, they’ll almost certainly go through in the Copa America where the stakes are much higher. They’ll move into the Semifinals, where they’ll most probably go up against Uruguay, considering they make it through which they most certainly will.
According to me, this is where Brazil will be knocked out by Uruguay in this competition. While the Brazilian team is star-studded throughout its ranks, it doesn’t quite have the same type of balance that this La Celeste side seems to possess. Both these sides recently met each other on October 18, 2023, in World Cup qualifiers. Where Uruguay won the match 2-0. The fascinating thing about the match was, that with unparalleled attacking talent on the pitch, all Brazil could muster up during the full 90 minutes were 2 shots, none of which were on target. But say, Brazil managed to beat Uruguay to book their place in the Finals, Messi and co. will be waiting for them. While Argentina vs Brazil matches are always exciting and unpredictable, Argentina seem to have had their number in recent years.
Another reason why this Brazilian team doesn’t go down as favourites in my book is their sheer inexperience. On an average age basis, Brazil is one of the youngest sides in the tournament. Apart from that, if you take an average of international appearances each player in squads across the Copa America has made, Brazil’s average is the lowest among all. While this young Brazil team will no doubt be a menace in the coming years, this time around it doesn’t feel so likely.
